Tag: electrical back up

﻿Electric Generators Give Home on the Range a New Meaning!

Power generators are one of the most valuable pieces of equipment when they’re needed. During power outages or in locations where plugging into the electric grid is not an option, a portable power generator can come in real handy. Unfortunately it also can be a very bad neighbor due to the noise factor. Imagine traveling out to the wilderness only to listen to the generator roar from the neighbors camp set up. Not good. So if you’re considering getting a generator, be very aware of the operational noise and select a high quality, quiet electrical generator.

If you are considering buying a generator, make sure that you take the time to consider a Honda power generator. The Honda power generator has superior insualative properties over most other brands so it runs very quietly. Many people may not think that spending extra money on a generator just because it is quiet is prudent, but a quiet generator is very important in many cases. Tailgating and camping are two of those cases.

Tailgate parties are usually thrown during sports seasons where people get together at the stadium to have a cook out prior to enjoying the game. Although 110 volt electrical power is a great convenience, it’s also very noisy if you select the wrong power generator source.

A couple years ago, we went to a local football game even though we had no tickets just went to enjoy the pre-game festivities and food. We decided that if we did not find anyone selling tickets in the parking lot, then we would just watch the game on the television located in the camper on our truck. Short story is that we didn’t get tickets and were able to use our quiet generator to view the game in the comfort of our own recreational vehicle.

We soon discovered the benefits of having a quiet generator like the Honda power generator because we had the benefit of a quiet generator. The television required electricity. There was no way that we were missing the game so we just powered up the generator and had all the comforts of home right in the back of our truck.

We had no noise complaints due to the quiet operating generator. The people in an adjoining motor home however weren’t so lucky. They’re gen-set was an older unit that was noisy and clanked away while still generating the electricity. These poor folks had others coming over and complaining all the time because of the noise. It just wasn’t worth the problems or ugly behavior so they had to turn off their power source.

The moral of the story is that it’s not good to pay to little for a generator but it’s also not good to pay to little. Get the best value once again pays dividends for the life of the purchase. Consider a quality, quiet electrical power generator for your next outing.

﻿Deciding Whether To Hire A Winnebago In England

Motorhome touring holidays are becoming more and more popular in England and Europe and many people consider hiring an American type vehicle such as a Winnebago instead of the home grown British or European models produced by companies such as Swift or Elddis.

Before deciding to hire a winnebago for use in England however, it is worthwhile considering the arguments for and against. It should be noted that Winnebago is actually a manufacturer’s name even though it is now used as a generic term for American Motorhome and there are many other makers, such as Airstream. While considering the hire of such a vehicle it is wise to consider switching to an English equivalent if the circumstances warrant it. Let us consider the pros and cons of the American motorhome against the British equivalent.

Winnebago motorhomes are left hand drive whilst English vehicles are right hand drive , this is a definite disadvantage if you are intending to stay in the uk , however if you are going to mainland Europe the winnebago is more suitable. Winnebago vehicles are also long vehicles, designed for the u.s. roads which are wider and much straighter than English roads, you would not want to make a three point turn on an English road in a winnebago although many have rearward facing cameras to aid you in this task. Winnebago engines are designed for u.s. gas prices, whether diesel or petrol the fuel consumption will be high and must be factored into your decision.The side door on an american vehicle will open onto the road instead of the pavement or verge when used in England, this could be a major safety issue, especially if you are taking children with you. Although reliable Winnebagos can break down just like any other motor vehicle and spares availabilty can be limited in the U.K. with many parts having to be shipped in from America expertise in repairing these vehicles can also be scarce.

On the other hand winnebago motorhomes are more spacious with many having slide out sides ( for use whilst parked) which create huge living areas, they are normally fully equipped with air conditioning, central heating, showers, hook up for waste, tv, electricity, separate bedrooms, built in generators, aouto-levelling air jacks, lcd televisions, automatic transmission, air suspension, separate dining areas and roof deck seating. In general they are much more luxurious than their British counterparts, they also tend to have more powerful engines.It should however be noted that if the morohome weighs more than 7.5 tonnes you will not be able to drive it ona a normal car drivers licence , you will need a class “C” truck licence.

You therefore have to choose whether the static advantages of a winnebago are more important than the drawbacks of fuel consumption, maneuverability, safety etc in coming to the decision of whether to hire a winnebago or whether to go for an English motorhome. Whichever you choose you are bound to enjoy the freedom of the road, that outdoor camping feelgood factor and the ever changing scenery as you tour the countryside.

﻿Reasons For You To Trust A Kohler Engine

If you know about engines then you’re probably familiar with the name Kohler, a manufacturer of some of the world’s best engines ever invented.

The Kohler Company got its start in the 1920s when it created the Kohler Automatic Power Light 1500-watt Model “A” generator…whew, what a mouthful! The name doesn’t quite make it clear what the invention was, but if you haven’t already guessed it, it was an engine. This engine was designed to be put to use in rural areas and was powered by a four-cylinder water-cooled engine and could be hooked up to a 120v DC current, a great asset to farmers who lived away from the hustle and bustle of the booming cities.

While this first engine was a mild success, it wasn’t until 1939 when Kohler really began to thrive by developing liquid-cooled diesel engines. These engines ranged from single cylinder to four-cylinder, and from 5hp to 20hp. Kohler products were a big part of the war effort against Germany and Japan, which led to huge profits from government contracts.

By 1948, Kohler was beginning to manufacture “stand alone” engines for industrial applications in their first ever engine factory. Three years later Kohler had manufactured the K90 cast iron single cylinder air-cooled engine. By the end of the 1950s Kohler had an entire line of engines, as well as interchangeable parts. There have been no limits for this company ever in its 80 year history.

The list of the engineering accomplishments of this company are many and could be turned into a novel, but suffice it to say that to this day Kohler is still engineering what they believe to be the strongest and most dependable engines in the business, and they also have many satisfied customers who will provide evidence of this fact. And as if this wasn’t enough, Kohler also backs its engines with a full lifetime warranty and full after sale service, a practice they have used since their inception into the engineering world.

Kohler still manufacturers a wide variety of engine sizes for all type of uses today. You can find their products in lawn mowers and at construction sites powering generators and other equipment. The horsepower of their engines has not changed much in the company’s history, ranging from 4hp to 30hp today. The engines also come in either air or liquid cooled designs and can meet the application needs of all customers.

Kohler is a company that forms lifelong bonds with its customers, and periodically updates its customers on what’s new in the engineering world and what new products Kohler has come out with. Kohler understands that many people put their confidence and trust into their products, which in turn drives them to strive for excellence.

﻿Reversing Mother Nature, Part Three

We talked to North America’s leading In Situ Leach (ISL) uranium mining engineers, and had them explain exactly how ISL worked. Most of the significant ISL operations in the United States were designed and/or constructed by these engineers. They explained how ISL mining is really just reversing the process of Mother Nature.

CLEANING UP THE PROJECT

Not so fast. Shipping the uranium out of the ISL plant isn’t the final step. The water has to be cleaned up, the property returned to its original condition. If done properly, then the footprint of the ISL uranium operation should have been nearly erased. In an earlier article, “Wyoming Uranium: Now and the Future,” we talked to Pat Drummond at Smith Ranch about this process:

The company is meticulous in restoring the landscape as well. Any restoration work on the surface is called “reclamation.” That can involve farming. “When we start a well field, we have to, by license, remove the topsoil and store it somewhere,” Drummond explained. “When we go back to reclaim the property, we take all the pipes out, we take the houses down, and cut our wells off. It’s all identified. We put an ID marker on the well. In 50 years time, when Farmer Joe comes around and wonders what was there, the state can say, ‘That was a uranium well.’ From the time we’ve stopped mining, we put everything back to normal.”

The one item we did not address at the time was cleaning up the water after the orebody has been mined out. Why is restoring the water back to background important? “In the mining process, you’re basically elevating sulfate,” explained Anthony. “You’re also elevating calcium because you’re lowering the pH a little bit, down to 6.5 to 7. Because you run it across the ion exchange circuits, you get a little leakage of chlorides into the lixiviant.” Subsequently, the water will have sulfate, chloride, calcium and bicarbonate circulating within it. “When you add carbon dioxide, you’re forming bicarbonate,” Anthony noted. “These are the major ion groups you are elevating during the mining process.” He also added that in some projects, you may get arsenic, vanadium and/or selenium. “They all go into the solution so that at the end of your mining process, these ions will be elevated above their baseline values.” The water will need to undergo a purification process to return them back to a quality consistent with baseline values.”

What does the ISL operator do with the water once the facility has mined out the uranium? There are three options, which we discussed with Glenn Catchpole, who has also set up previous ISL operations. In 1996, Catchpole was the General Manager and Managing Director of the Inkai uranium solution mining project in Kazakhstan. He is currently the Chief Executive of Uranerz Energy. “Here’s my order of priority: If you have a receiver formation for deep disposal on your project, that’s my first choice.” Sometimes, a project may not have access to a deep disposal aquifer, warned Catchpole.

The water is sent down the receiver formation, down about 4000 feet. “You’re usually sending this water to a formation that is very briny, a poorer quality than what you’re sending down,” Anthony pointed out. Another option, according to Catchpole, would be operations ponds, or evaporating ponds, where the water is evaporated. A third option is “land applied.” Catchpole explained this was for land application. “You take your waste stream, you treat it to remove the certain level of impurities, according to the government requirement, and then you’re allowed to disperse it on the land surface, as if you were irrigating.” When applied to the land, it is soaking into the land. “It’s growing grass, and it’s going into the groundwater system,” concluded Catchpole, “Whatever water quality standard they allow for you to put that water in the land, they want to ensure it doesn’t accumulate some particular chemical over time that is going to build up and contaminate the land.”

Generally, during the restoration process, the water is circulated through the barren orebody about eight times. It’s another instance of pore volumes – eight more times through the sandstone formation. Anthony explained, “Normally, the first pore volume is evacuated and disposed of via a disposal well.” But he warned, “This will cause an inflow of surrounding native water back into the mine zone. The resulting water is pumped to the surface and processed through a reverse osmosis unit.” Anthony compared this to the desalination of seawater. “The reverse osmosis equipment acts like an ‘ion filter,’ allowing pure water to pass through a membrane and filtering out ions of sulfate, calcium, uranium, bicarbonate and so forth,” Anthony explained.

Two streams of water are produced by the reverse osmosis unit. One stream is called “product water,” and is normally consistent with drinking water quality. The smaller stream of water is called “brine.” It contains, according to Anthony, “95 percent of all the dissolved ions that were in solution.” He said, “The brine is disposed down a deep well into an underground formation, which is typically not suitable for any use.”

CONCLUSION

For all the lip service and media attention paid to the environmental movement in terms of financial support, recognition and respect, it is the ISL miner who cares more about the environment, about preserving Mother Nature. Environmentalists remain ignorant of, or care not to publicize, the dangers of coal-fired electrical generation. Mining and burning coal to generate power for industry and residential electricity poses a greater threat to Mother Nature than ISL mining and nuclear power-generated electricity. No more evident a case in point is New Mexico, where the Navajo Nation “banned” uranium mining, because their president was misled by environmentalists in believing ISL uranium mining could pose a threat to groundwater. At the same time, the Navajo Nation enjoys over $100 million in coal royalties each year, as their air is polluted by carcinogens filling their air from coal mining in the San Juan Basin and coal-fired plants, which produce most of their electricity. It is time for the world’s environmentalist movements to wake up and smell the air they are breathing.

Unfortunately, ISL uranium mining will not replace conventional uranium mining in many deposits across the world. According to the World Nuclear Association, ISL mining accounted for 21 percent of worldwide uranium mining in 2004. “The overriding constraint of ISL is the technology is only applicable to selected uranium deposits,” Stover cautioned. “It’s those deposits wherein the uranium ore resides in a permeable environment, where you can flow water through the deposit and where you can bring the dissolved oxygen and carbon dioxide into contact with the uranium.” Stover explained that, during the evolution of ISL mining, a number of projects failed because the uranium was associated with organic material, was not accessible to the leaching solution, or the uranium was tied up in clays or shale-like material. “They were not able to flow fluid through it,” explained Stover. “The key issue at the onset is a careful characterization of the host environment in which the uranium exists.”

The key advantage to ISL is the far lower capital costs to start up a project, compared to the hundreds of millions required for a conventional mining and mill complex. For example, UR-Energy’s William Boberg and Uranerz Energy’s Glenn Catchpole both believe they can install an ISL operation on their Wyoming properties for as little as $10 million. Labor costs are also less. Doug Norris pointed out, “In its heyday, the Highland mine probably had 4,000 working in it.” By comparison, Cameco’s Smith-Highland ranch in Wyoming may soon ramp up to nearly 100 employees. “We’re talking about installing a centralized water treatment plant supported by a large number of water wells, typically completed with PVC,” Stover explained. “That’s in contrast with conventional mining, where you have extensive earth moving, in the case of an open pit or extensive underground workings, and a more complicated, much larger processing plant.”

In terms of environmental impact, ISL offers something sensible to the environmentalists. “ISL is much less intrusive, and it is short lived,” Stover said, echoing the sentiments of all who have been involved in this type of uranium mining. “It’s acceptance by the general public is much more favorable,” he concluded.

What does the future hold for ISL uranium mining in the United States? “Up until 2004, prices were flat,” Norris pointed out. “The economic picture has just now switched to where mines can start coming on again, but it does take years to properly define where the ore is. It takes a lot of geologic drilling and time to decipher it. Then there are the regulatory requirements, and that can take several years. Even if everybody reacted right now to what’s out there, it would still be several years, upwards of five years, before production jumped from its existing rate to 10 to 20 million pounds at the most.”

﻿Build Your Own Electric Car

This product is offered by a Les and Jane who have been living “off grid” for the past 15 years. They drive their own homemade electric car and use solar and wind energy to run their house.

Their book reveals the method that they used to convert their car to run on electricity at a cost that they, as regular people, could afford. The cost of the whole process is a few hundred dollars. And they will also show you how to complete a 100 miles with one charging.

You will learn in a step-by-step the method of converting your car to electric power and how to reduce the money that you pay for fuel to nearly zero.

This method is not only an effective way to get great mileage for less, but it also helps the environment. The use of fuel increases the amount of harmful gases in the environment which has a negative affect on the overall environment and particularly on the local environment. By adapting to this method of running your vehicle you are also doing a favor to our environment.

You will be pleased to learn that the IRS gives refunds to people who are using environmentally friendly methods of living. In this book you will learn how to benefit from this as well.

In the book you will learn how to replace the expensive batteries that you have to buy for running your car on electricity. You can keep a whole bank of used batteries in great shape for years.

The car speed is something that you may be concerned about because without speed there’s no point in wasting money on such methods. The authors say that your electric powered car will easily achieve freeway speeds. This means that in terms of performance there will be no issues at all.

For the couple, however, this electric vehicle conversion is only part of what has been a 15 year journey to find the ultimate way to maintain a normal lifestyle and live green at the same time.

The price of the book “Build Your Own Electric Car” is $19.97 dollars. There is also “The Going Green Value Pack” on offer, which includes “Build Your Own Electric Car” + 4 other books each with information on different methods (solar panels, wind generators and bio diesel production )of using “green” energy . With this package you will be able to live a more environmentally friendly lifestyle. It is available for $49.97. There is also a 60 day money back guarantee in case you don’t find the information useful.

﻿Uranium Facts For The Natural Resource Investor

Investing in uranium is looking toward the future. With fossil fuels fizzling out, the world needs reliable sources of energy. The price of uranium has moved surpisingly fast over the last year with the scare of oil and natural gas shortages. Also, analysts report a severe uranium shortage over the next ten years. Lets take a look at what uranium is and how it is/will be used. I have always heard “buy what you know”, so hopefully you will know a little more about uranium after reading.

Uranium can be found abundantly on the planet. Uranium is formed when stars explode, expelling the heavy element. Uranium-238, the most common form of uranium found on earth has a half life of 4.5 billion years, which explains its large quantity (around 99% of the world’s uranium). Uranium-235 makes up a little more then half of the remaining 1%. Uranium-234 makes up small amount left.

The most important form of uranium is uranium-235, which possesses some very useful characteristics. Uranium-235 can undergo “induced-fission”. Induced fission is when a free neutron is used to bombard the element, causing it immediately to destabilize and split. During this reaction a large amount of heat is given off. This heat, through various means, can be harvested into power. This is process is commonly called nuclear fission. Over 400 nuclear fission generators exist in the world today in major countries such as the US, China, Russia and Germany. Nuclear power planys fired up in 1959. The number is growing dramatically as countries are expanding their power grids. Demand for uranium and uranium enrichment increases as more nations decide to add nuclear power to their power creating arsenals.

Discuss with your investment advisor the pros and cons of adding uranium stocks to your portfolio. I have several precious metal and natural resource mining stocks in my portfolio which have done well over the last year. I am definitely going to add a uranium mining company to my list of stocks.

﻿Interior Of Recreational Vehicles

The recreational vehicles and camping cars are getting popular amongst the adventure freaks. With these vehicles, one can experience the comfort and luxury, despite of the camping site’s rough environment.

The interior of the recreational vehicles plays a major part in a comfortable stay.

A recreational vehicle normally comprises of a bed, bathroom, small kitchen area, and some storage space.

A luxurious recreational vehicle may comprise of a living room with table, TV, kitchen with microwave, refrigerator and a master bedroom with a large and cozy bed.

The bathrooms are spacious and are fitted with a shower. The toilets are generally the portable ones, which can be detached and cleaned at a sanitary station.

There are several terms involved in the interior of the recreational vehicles. The toilets generally have a Black water tank in which the waste water from the toilet is stored.

The kitchens of recreational vehicles have the Grey Water tanks. These are used to store the waste water from the shower and kitchen sinks.

The most important equipments in the interior of the recreational vehicle are the generators and the converters. The generator can be petrol, propane or diesel operated.

It generates AC voltage, which is very useful in dry camping and in the middle of the travel. The converter takes the AC voltage from the generator or the campsite hookups and converts it into DC voltage. This voltage is used by the electrical equipments in RV.

House batteries turn out as one more source of DC voltage source. The batteries have a smaller capacity of 12 volts DC. The batteries are charged by the vehicle batteries.

The inverters take the DC voltage from house batteries and convert into AC. This voltage is used by the electronic equipments which need an AC voltage.

﻿What is Alternative Energy

There is a lot of energy that we can harness if we only seek to research and develop the technologies needed to do so. We can get away from the fossil fuels and the old electrical grids by turning to alternatives to these energy sources.

One of these alternative energy resources is wind power. Wind turbines continue to be developed that are progressively more energy efficient and less costly. “Wind farms” have been springing up in many nations, and they have even become more strategically placed over time so that they are not jeopardizing birds as former wind turbines did.

Another alternative energy resource is the one that is most well known: solar energy. This involves the manufacturing of solar cells which gather and focus the energy given off directly by the sun, and translate it into electricity or, in some cases, hot water. As with wind energy, solar energy creates absolutely zero pollution.

Ocean wave energy is seen by governments and investors as having enormous energy generating potential. A generator in France has been in operation for many years now and is considered to be a great success, and the Irish and Scots are running experimental facilities.

Hydroelectric power has been with us for a while and where it is set up, it is a powerful generator of electricity and cleaner than a grid. However, there are certain limitations to the availability of the right places to set up a large dam. Many run-of-the-river, or small and localized, hydroelectric generators have been set up in recent times due to this limitation.

Geothermal energy is extremely abundant, since it lies directly beneath our feet, just a few miles below the earth’s surface. This energy is produced by the heating of water through the actions of earth’s fantastically hot molten core. The water turns to steam, which can be harnessed and used to drive turbine engines which in turn generate electricity. Great amounts of research and development should be put into geothermal energy tapping.

Waste gas energies, which are essentially methane, reverse the usual energy-pollution relationship by creating energy from waste that lies in the dumps and from some air pollutants. This gas is used in fuel cells and can be used in standard gasoline generators.

Ethanol is a gasoline substitute and is created from such things as wheat, sugarcane, grapes, strawberries, corn, and even wood chips and wood cellulose. There is controversy over this fuel with regards to its ever becoming truly economical or practical except in very localized areas, but technologies for its extraction and admixturing are continuously being refined.

Biodiesel energy is created out of the oils contained in plants. So far, the commercial stores of biodiesel have been created using soybean, rapeseed, and sunflower oils. At the time of this writing, biodiesel is typically produced by entrepreneurial minded individuals or those who want to experiment with alternative energy, but commercial interest from companies is on the rise. It burns much cleaner than oil-based diesel.

Atomic energy is created in atomic energy plants using the process of nuclear fission. This energy is extremely efficient and can generate huge amounts of power. There is concern from some people about what to do with the relatively small amount of waste product atomic energy gives off, since it is radioactive and takes hundreds of years to decay into harmlessness.

﻿Battery Life – Expectations

The life of a battery bloc can vary dramatically especially when used in a UPS System , the manufacturer will always state the expected life of a battery bloc on the proviso that it has a pure dc float voltage applied to it and that the ambient temperature is restricted to 20 ° C. If these parameters are adhered to, one can expect to achieve the 5 years life from a 3 – 5 year design life battery or the 10 years of a 7 – 10 year design life battery bloc, omitting manufacturing failures.

Unfortunately we do not live in a perfect world and as a result there are limitations applied to the battery bloc, one is the ambient temperature, although a number of rack-mounted UPS systems may luxuriate in ambient temperatures of 20 ° C or less because of the demands of the IT equipment, due to the nature of the design of the UPS there is generally insufficient space to achieve a significant airflow round the battery blocs and as a result they will fail the UPS system battery test after a mere 2 – 3 years.

In this situation the requirements of Uninterruptible power supplies and their installation mean that UPS maintenance is unlikely to detect the failure of the battery pack, often due to the fact that after a very short period of time the UPS system is hidden in a mass of communication cables. The most positive approach under these circumstances is to rigorously implement a two-year replacement battery programme to ensure the integrity of the backup UPS system. This also applies to Generators. Yes, even diesel generators require batteries to supply the current to start.

Flat or failed batteries render the generator useless. Call outs to such problems are chargeable and yet can be avoided by a regular maintenance regime.

In larger UPS systems the problems arising are often due to location; no-one wants the local radiated noise of Uninterruptible power supplies to impinge on their working environment and, as a result the uninterruptible power supply will be located in a basement perhaps, where the ambient temperature is not ideal for batteries and maybe the saying,” Out of sight is Out of mind,” is true. In the case of battery life, ignorance is not bliss. Batteries will fail the question is whether you are prepared or just waiting for it to happen,

As a result of the location the ambient temperature can often exceed 25 – 30 ° C and this potentially could decrease the expected life of the battery. For, prolonged use at 30 ° of VRLA (valve regulated lead acid) batteries the expected life can decrease by 50%, if the ambient temperature is raised to 40 ° C the life of the battery will fall by another 50%. Therefore at an ambient temperature of 40 ° C the expected operating life of a 7 – 10 year life battery has fallen to 1.75 – 2.5 years!

In this case even UPS maintenance will not save the battery, all it can do is to report on the rapid deterioration of the battery bloc.

Fortunately these extremes covered by these scenarios are not too common but they highlight the need to record the operating conditions by regular UPS maintenance and to ensure that there is an emergency 24/7 callout cover in place in the event of the unexpected happening. Be prepared!

﻿Finally, Alternative Fuel Engines Are Gaining Respect

In order for all of us to understand what is going on in the world about the high price of gasoline. Let us look at one mans quest to make the engine a better and cheaper running machine, a quick history lesson if you will.

A lot of people think of the diesel engine with the black soot soaring upwards from large semi-trucks on the highways and byways of America. We have all smelled the odor when they idle in a parking lot. If you have ever been in the Army you can remember the deuce and half trucks and their smell.

This is how the diesel engine has developed but was this the way its inventor imaged it, as an engine running on petroleum? The diesel engine was invented by Rudolf Diesel and ran with success on its fuel of choice – PEANUT OIL !

Diesel also tried out successfully with using whale oil but neither fuel was as prevailing or as easily available as petroleum. At this time petroleum based oils were the most economically obtainable. So the engine took the route of easy oil and you now know the rest of the story.

Rudolf Diesel had stated “The diesel engine can be fed with vegetable oils and would help considerably in the development of agriculture of the countries which use it”

And later predicted that “The use of vegetable oils for engine fuels may seem insignificant today. But such oils may become in course of time as important as petroleum and the coal tar products of the present time.”

You might be asking why hasn’t someone done something about this in the past 100 years? Well, it has come full circle and we are now doing something.

Keeping the above mentioned history in mind and looking to our future, our affiliation with the oil industries and our addiction on foreign oil, hopefully, will motivate us to explore options with a more open mind. The many experiments that have lately come alive attest to what is possible if we are willing to change in a positive direction or maybe to go back to the primary vision of Rudolph Diesel and his engine.

Here a several of new advances moving full steam ahead:

1. From fat or vegetable oil through a chemical process called transesterification comes biodiesel an alternative fuel. This process breaks apart the glycerin from the fat or vegetable oil, creating two new products, glycerin and biodiesel. The most popular source for biodiesel is soybean oil, but poultry fats can also be used.

2. Ethanol, another clean-burning fuel has sparked interest in biodiesel which is being helped by new government standards and rising gas prices. A number of ethanol projects developing from corn, soft wood and other sources also are under way.

3. Also, today May 20, 2006 in the news, there is research being done in an early 1900s red brick armory at the Kossuth County fairgrounds in Iowa. The engine can run on a number of fuels including hydrogen, ethanol, natural gas, propane or digester gas from landfills. The company is initially focusing on making more efficient, environmentally friendlier engines to replace those used in generators and in forklift trucks, airline ground equipment, irrigation pumps, tractors and buses.

The Energy Policy Act of 2005 commands an increase in renewable fuel usage to 7.5 billion gallons in 2012 from 4 billion gallons in 2006. The bill also supports the alternative fuel industry with production incentives such as tax credits.